A friend recommend this show to me, and I saw no reason not to start watching it so gave it a go one Monday night while I was sitting there finishing off my homework. It’s different to most other teen dramas, and it quite unique with its range of characters and themes. After watching the first episode, which was one of Season 4, I really liked it and continued watching the new series weekly ever since and then realised I would have to start catching up with the show, as when I had started watching it, there was already a full 3 and a half seasons shown and some of the storylines weren’t making much sense since I hadn’t seen the rest of the episodes. It’s quite often repeated in the afternoon on E4, but because of the time I get in, I was always missing part of it. When I was spending my birthday money in Newcastle, I spotted Season 1 on DVD, and knew I had to buy it.

It came in an orange, quite large box set. It’s just an orange bit of cardboard with one side folded in to keep the DVD’s in place, this isn’t actually too strong as mine is starting to fall apart now. The front of the box set has a picture of the cast members, the name of the show, the season number and the rating. When you turn it over, the back of the box set shows a basic synopsis of the show’s plot, the cast, a few pictures from the show, the rating again but this time with reasons, a list of the special features and information such as the running time and the language.

The show is set in and around a small Californian town called Tree Hill with many different residents and many things happening. It starts when Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) is accepted onto the basketball team, a controversial decision which causes a lot of conflict because his brother, Nathan (James Lafferty) already plays on the team. It’s a lot more complicated than that though, as Lucas’s and Nathan’s father (Dan Scott) rejected Lucas and his mother, but started a family with Nathan’s mother and has brought him up. With Lucas on the team, things in Tree Hill change forever and people start to mix with people they’d never thought possible and doing things that they’d never thought they would.

I bought my box set for £18 from Zavvi, a shop which has now had to close down. I thought it was really good value considering how long the running time was, since films are normally around £10 for 120 mins, and this is 907 mins, so it is a really good deal.

The 22 episodes are each around 45 minutes each (they are an hour on the TV with adverts). There are 6 discs with 4 episodes on each, not counting the last one which has two episodes and the bonus features on it. Season one progresses and really shows how the characters change and how the story lines progress. These are the 22 episodes that make up season one:-
Episode one – Pilot
Nathan is the basketball star in Tree Hill, but this all changes when his half brother Lucas comes along. Nathan finds Lucas very suspicious, and wants him off the team, fearing that he will take his spot and his girlfriend, Peyton.

Episode two – The Places You Have
Lucas plays his first game, and decides to quit the team after performing really badly. Nathan and Peyton continue to argue, and grow further apart. Keith and Karen solve unresolved issues and get some closure over Dan.

Episode three – Are you true
Lucas finds that since he has joined the basketball team, his popularity is growing and he is no longer just the unknown book worm. Nathan still cant stand the fact that Lucas is on the team, and finds his Achilles heel in Haley James, Lucas’s nest friend who is definitely off limits. The team haze Lucas on Nathan’s instructions, and Karen objects. Peyton’s fury is directed at Lucas after she earns he submitted her artwork to a leading magazine.

Episode four – Crash Into You
Nathan hosts a party at his father’s beach house, with booze, cheerleaders and fall outs. Two unlikely people, Haley and Lucas show up and end up wishing they hadn’t when Lucas is humiliated and Peyton’s car is involved in a hit and run. From the aftermath of the party, Lucas confronts Karen to find out why things happened the way they did.

Episode five – All that you can’t leave behind
It’s the father/son basketball competition and stakes are high as Dan and Nathan are determined to triumph over Lucas, who asks Keith to be his Dad for the game. Also, Peyton and Nathan finally break up and Peyton and Whitey find comfort in each other while reminiscing over the death of their loved one.

Episode six – Every Night is Another Story
After Lucas and Nathan’s rivalry nearly costs the Ravens their game, they are thrown off the bus and have to walk the thirty mile trip home, forced into a truce. Haley, Brooke and Peyton get a ride home together, and its another unlikely group.

Episode seven – Life in a Glass House
This year is the first year that both of Dan’s sons will be attending his annual basketball appreciation party, and it will be a party like no other with tempers flaring and new alliances forming. Nathan and Haley grow closer, but are pushed apart again after a drunk Brooke spreads a rumour about Haley.

Episode eight – The Search For Something More
Brooke tries to get Peyton to show her wild side a bit more, and takes her to a college party where she hopes that they can both pick up some boys. Things don’t go to plan though, when Brooke meets a high school boy and Peyton has to be rescued by Lucas when she is slipped a date rape drug.

Episode nine – With Arms Outstretched
Things get too much for Nathan, and he takes drugs to boost his performance in the next game, which lands him in a hospital bed. Brooke and Lucas go on a date, and he returns with a tattoo and a hangover, something which Keith isn’t overly impressed about.

Episode ten - You Gotta Go There To Come Back
Nathan and Dan spend the father and son bonding weekend from hell together. Lucas chooses whether to date Brooke or Peyton. Jake is introduced, he has a six month old daughter called Jenny, yet is still on the team.

Episode eleven – The Living Years
Haley skives off school, something she has never done before, to drink at the beach with Nathan until they get caught by Dan, it seems Nathan is a rather bad influence on Haley.

Episode twelve – Crash Courses in Polite Conversation
Peyton’s father is reported lost at sea, she turns to Lucas for comfort who comes with her to identify a body that might be her fathers. When delays cause them to stay the night at a motel, they don’t stop their growing attraction to each other and are left with the guilt for betraying Brooke. Back in Tree Hill, Haley, Keith and Whitey attend a dinner at the Scott’s for Dan’s birthday with his parents, and secrets are revealed.

Episode thirteen – Hanging by a moment
Lucas and Peyton decide its time to tell Brooke, but tragedy strikes before they have the chance. On the way to pick Karen up from the airport, Keith and Lucas are in a car accident which leaves Lucas fighting for his life.

Episode fourteen – I Shall Believe
Lucas lies unconscious in the hospital after the accident with Karen by his side, who is furious to learn that Keith had been drinking before the accident. Nathan tries to win Haley back. Karen meets Brooke and they get on really well.

Episode fifteen – Suddenly Everything Has Changed
Lucas breaks up with Brooke, and she is devastated to find out that the reason is her best friend. Keith puts the garage up for sale.

Episode sixteen – The First Cut is the Deepest
Nathan has to choose which parent to live with after the divorce, but after all the backstabbing and secrets his parents commit getting him to live with them, he files for emancipation. Lucas drinks his troubles away in a bar.

Episode seventeen – Spirit in the Night
The gang head to an overnight completion chaperoned by Peyton’s dad and Karen. Tempers flare when Whitey assigns Lucas and Nathan the same room, and Haley has to step in for an ill cheerleader.

Episode eighteen – To Wish Impossible Things
The charity boy toy auction comes around and results in some unlikely pairing, and some old flames getting bake together. There’s Tim and Deb, Brooke and Mouth, Jake and Nicki, Lucas and Haley and Nathan and Peyton. Mouth ends up having the time of his life, while the other couples learn more about each other and Tim and Deb end up embarrassed. This episode is my favourite because of the unlikely pairings and how funny it is, with some strange situations.

Episode nineteen – How Can You Be Sure?
Brooke finds herself pregnant, and Lucas has no idea what to do, it seems as if history is repeating itself. Nicki continues with her plans to get into Jake’s life, and take Jenny back into her own custody. Karen turns down Keith’s proposal, leaving him devastated.

Episode twenty – What is and What Should Never Be
Nathan is struggling to pay the bills for his apartment, so gets a job at the food court to help. Haley decides to cheer him up by throwing him a party, but it all goes wrong when Nicki crashes the party and the cops show up.

Episode twenty one – The Leaving Song.
Nathan and Haley have another fight, Nicki kidnaps Jenny when Peyton and Brooke take her to the mall and Dan is drafted into coach the team when Whitey has surgery.

Episode Twenty Two – The Games That Play Us
Lucas, Nathan and the whole team are under pressure by Dan to win the championship, pushing them to their breaking point. Nathan and Haley take their relationship to a new level, shocking Lucas. Lucas decided to have a fresh start, and leaves with Keith…

There are a lot of main cast members, some teens and some adults who have their own dramas too. It is an excellent cast who act really well together, with great chemistry and passion.

Chad Michael Murray is Lucas Scott, the son who Dan never wanted to know. His best friend is Haley James and he gets involved in a love triangle with Peyton and Brooke this season which continues on throughout the rest of the show. Definitely a bit of eye candy!

James Lafferty is Nathan Scott, the spoiled star of the basketball team who starts to change when Lucas joins the team. His relationship with Haley is a major storyline that progresses through the season.

Sophia Bush is Brooke, one of my favourite characters. She is the party girl and preppy cheerleader who loves boys and shopping. Caught up in the love triangle with Lucas and Peyton, she tries to get over Lucas.

Bethany Joy Lenz plays Haley, an excellent character with so many sides to her. Brooke gave her the nickname tutor girl because she does so well in school, she’s been Lucas’s best friend since she was little. As a result of Lucas joining the team, Haley starts to get more popular and this starts her relationship with Nathan.

Hilarie Burton plays Peyton Sawyer, the last of the main teens. She has a troubled past, with her mother dying at an early age and her father often away at sea. The unlikely cheerleader, she has a passion for art and music and is often dark and broody but also a really versatile character.

Paul Johansson is Dan Scott, the manipulative and scheming father of Lucas and Nathan.

Barbara Alynn Woods is Deb, Dan’s wife who has been with him for eighteen years, and is Nathan’s mother.

Moira Kelly is Karen Roe, the woman that Dan rejected, and Lucas’s mother. She is involved with an on off romance with Keith, and runs her own café.

Craig Sheffer is Keith Scott, he shares a fierce rivalry with his little brother Dan, and is a great uncle to Lucas. He is in love with Karen, but their relationship never seems to work.

Finally, Barry Corbin is the old Whitey, also known as Coach Durham who has been coaching the Ravens for over twenty years.

The music is definitely a strong point of the show, and it has been noted for it. There has been a soundtrack released from the first season, and I have most of this on my ipod. The theme tune to the show is I don’t want to be by Gavin DeGraw, a song with rock vibes that really gets in your head.

If you liked Friends, you might find that this is a teenage version of it with a bit more drama. You also might find that this is a teenage version of desperate housewives. If you have seen the more recent 90210, this is also quite similar.